Yen rallies after BOJ keeps policy unchanged

The yield on Japan’s benchmark 10-year bond climbed five basis points to 0.89%. It has swung from an all-time low of 0.315% to as much as 1% since the BOJ announced in April a plan to double monthly bond purchases to more than 7 trillion yen.

The yen has climbed 5.9% in the past month, the best performer among 10 developed-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The dollar gained 0.5% and the euro has risen 2.9%.

Australia’s dollar slid for a third day against the greenback as the nation’s statistics bureau said April home-loan approvals rose 0.8%, versus the 2% advance estimated by economists and a revised 4.8% gain in March.

“Housing is the one area most likely to make up for the mining investment downturn, and it’s disappointed,” said Joseph Capurso, a Sydney-based foreign-exchange strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. “You’ve got to say that the Aussie’s going to keep on falling.”

Philippine Peso

The so-called Aussie fell 1.3% to 93.39 U.S. cents after reaching 93.26, the weakest since September 2010. It slid 3.2% to 90.52 yen after touching 90.18, the weakest since Jan. 2.

The peso fell for a fifth day against the dollar after official figures showed overseas shipments from the Philippines slipped 12.8% in April. That compares with a 5.3% estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The jobless rate climbed to the highest in three years.

The ringgit weakened on speculation the Federal Reserve will cut its monetary stimulus, slowing inflows into emerging- market assets.

The Peso fell 0.5% to 43.085 per dollar. Malaysia’s currency depreciated 0.7% to 3.15 per dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It touched 3.1615, the weakest level since July 27.